Kobe : European Player Development Superior to that of U.S."

[Jeffx]

I agree with Kobe. And I've always felt the NCAA is a joke - nothing but an unpaid farm system.

http://www.ballineurope.com/us-basketba ... ment-4203/

[Rip32]

I totally agree. Sure, the style of play taught in Europe isn't quite the same game as the NBA's style, but the fact that there are so many leagues makes up for their lack of college basketball. Really, I don't think the NCAA game is any different than the leagues young European players are playing in. Most of the leagues are very similar to top college ball programs anyway.

I think college ball helps American players too (you can go on and on about guys who skipped school and were turrible in the NBA). The high school/AAU part of American basketball is a joke though. That's where a lot of schools get in trouble for OJ Mayo-like financial transactions. These AAU coaches are more handles then coaches and the idea of AAU is to hone certain skills when in reality it's mostly a bunch of kids going 1-on-1 every single play... better known as the Kobe/LeBron/Wade style of offense.

[Andrew]

Considering the homegrown talent in the NBA though, I don't think the American system is doing too bad a job.

[koberulz]

(you can go on and on about guys who skipped school and were turrible in the NBA)

Such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett. As opposed to the guys who went to college, like Michael Olowokandi.

[Its_asdf]

(you can go on and on about guys who skipped school and were turrible in the NBA)

Such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett. As opposed to the guys who went to college, like Michael Olowokandi.

This is a really stupid arguement considering how many Ndudi Ebis and Kwame Browns were produced in proportion to the players you just named.

[shadowgrin]

Korleone Young.

[benji]

This is a really stupid arguement considering how many Ndudi Ebis and Kwame Browns were produced in proportion to the players you just named.

And just look at how many four year college players busted! It's in the thousands!

[Andrew]

This is a really stupid arguement considering how many Ndudi Ebis and Kwame Browns were produced in proportion to the players you just named.

To be fair, there are more college flops than high school flops, simply because of the smaller number of players that have made the jump directly from high school. It's easier to criticise the high school flops because they can be seen as skipping a step and the suggestion can be made that they should've stayed in college. Now that the age restrictions are in place, players who leave college after their freshman season are subject to the same criticism if they don't excel straight away.

In contrast, if a player spends three or four years in college and doesn't pan out in the NBA, it's kind of shrugged off as "Well, guess they didn't have what it takes to play at the NBA level" rather than the system itself being criticised because the player is seen as having done everything "right" and still failed. Considering that there are a few paths to the NBA and there are success stories and cautionary tales for all of them, the individual has to accept much of the responsibility for their success or failure.